Last year it was Jonathan Taylor Thomas. This year it was Rockette-style kicklines.
Every Maysing has a theme, and legs were flying in Cahn Auditorium at the Wednesday night show titled, “So I want to be a Broadway star.”
Fraternities and sororities pair up for the annual event, performing skits that mock life at Northwestern with hopes of winning the coveted first place honors.
By the end of the night, Kappa Delta and Delta Upsilon won first place, Delta Gamma and Sigma Phi Epsilon took second, and Chi Omega and Delta Chi came in third.
KD skit participants said they were thrilled to take home the first place trophy.
“We worked so hard on this,” said Cara Ludutsky, a Speech sophomore. “It’s a big tradition in our house.”
Emcee Sam Greenspan, hosting the show for his second year, taped the letter “K” on the wall every time a skit featured a kickline. He reached seven by the end of the show.
Greenspan also mocked the official Broadway theme, saying he hoped it would eliminate the pop precedent set at last year’s show.
“Last year we had eight groups do ‘Bye Bye Bye,'” said Greenspan, a Medill senior. “This year you would have heard ‘Back that Ass Up’ so many times even the edited version would sound bad.”
KD and DU’s victorious skit featured the group dancing to the “Rocky Horror Picture Show,” flashing more skin than a Britney Spears video.
The two houses mocked the average NU student who yelled, “NU students should be more than Core whores,” referring to students who spend hours studying in the University Library’s Core Collection.
Some audience members and participants said KD and DU earned their victory.
“The KD skit deserved to win because it was the most original,” said Randy Scott, a Medill freshman.
During the two-hour show, 10 skits mocked life at NU, with frequent references to prospie life, alcohol consumption and hooking up.
Alpha Phi and Delta Tau Delta members tried to turn NU into a party school, using Northwestern Student Against Sweatshops’ acronym to form a chapter of Northwestern Students Against Sobriety.
“We’re gonna camp out in front of (University President Henry) Bienen’s office until they put a bar in Norris,” one participant yelled.
Alpha Chi Omega and Chi Phi concluded the performances with a “West Side Story”-esque duel between North and South campuses, pitting calculator-toting Tech geeks against latte-sipping theater-ites.
The judging panel comprised economics lecturer Mark Witte, Student Community Service Coordinator Susan Johnston, area coordinator Dan Barnett and incoming Greek area coordinator Sean Thomas.
The group evaluated areas including musicality, group cohesiveness, props, costumes and enthusiasm.
Witte, who has judged Maysing in the past, said before the show that he was well trained in evaluating winners.
“I’m able to spot the skits that suck and act accordingly,” he said.
Despite all the catcalling, things sobered up for the announcement of the Maycourt nominees and finalists after the first round of skits.
Maycourt is a celebration of students’ achievements in the arts, athletics, scholarship and involvement.
Bruce Spolansky, president of Order of Omega, a Greek honor society that sponsored the event, said the organizers were happy with Maysing 2001.
“I think the preparation that went into the skits showed and really made a difference,” said Spolansky, a Weinberg junior.
